Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Is Getting Better Over Time

When Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (BL: TPS) was released on October 14, 2014, the community rejected the game. Gamers wanted all the better parts of Borderlands 2 (BL2) and its DLCs through a 20-hour main story in BL: TPS. And when this was not delivered, the community rioted for a short period and then got right back on Borderlands 2. 

Simply put, the success of Borderlands 2 limited the entire franchise. BL2 being such a perfect game made fans expect too much out of each following release. For this reason, how good of a game The Pre-Sequel is not widely known. “Almost on par” is not good enough for Borderlands players who expect another game like BL2 that is flawless from top to bottom every time. This is what the failure of The Pre-Sequel can be credited to. Gearbox Software fed the community a tomahawk steak one time and the Borderlands player base did not want to go back to eating cheeseburgers afterward.

But the thing about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is, that it’s actually lots of fun. Admittedly not better than Borderlands 2, but if the community rallied behind it during its life cycle, three more solid DLC packs could have made it worthy of comparison. 

Regardless, small and big quirks unique to this game are worth speaking on in order to detail why BL: TPS is really one of the best Borderlands games ever, and getting better with time.

Central characters, locations, and bosses within the plot are going to be discussed in this article. Anyone holding out for a blind playthrough should proceed with caution for spoilers.

Story/Lore

The main story follows Handsome Jack’s downward spiral into corruption and greed. Jack is a fan-favorite character who returns with more comedic lines and is someone the player will likely root for as a hero initially. He is very likable and charismatic as an ally. When playing as Jack, the player can spec into a skill called “Inspire” which will make Jack randomly drop inspirational quotes. The fact that this skill does nothing demonstrates the community’s love of this character, that they’d waste a skill point just to hear Jack talk.

(Via Stephan Fenris on YouTube)

But eventually, his hunt for the vault and war with Dahl make Jack increasingly evil. Watching this shift take place through a guy who the player wants to like is more disappointing than anything and is superb storytelling. The main story in The Pre-Sequel dare I say rivals Borderlands 2 and is significantly better than the story in the third game. 

(Via Jason’s Video Games Source on YouTube)

O2 Mechanic and Oz Kits

These oxygen rebreathers which could come with special effects replaced relics from Borderlands 2 and are one of the better parts of The Pre-Sequel. Many players found the oxygen system cumbersome and annoying at launch. But it is a fitting change to a game set on Elpis, the moon of planet Pandora. The modifying bonuses that can be gained from having rare Oz kits are amazing. These mods are able to improve your damage, fire rate, and damage resistance. They also provide a plethora of other good effects. 

This Oz Kit has better stats than most relics in Borderlands 2.

Laser Weapons

Highly addictive gameplay. Fire and lightning lasers disintegrate enemies and they all make “pew-pew” or “whirrrr” noises. Lasers are greatly damaging when paired with Athena’s maelstrom skill tree. Or with Wilhelm’s Cyber Commando skill tree. Laser weapon’s high elemental chance and damage per second make them competitive with or better than SMGs or ARs in certain instances. This new addition came as a welcome surprise to everyone. The weapon class doesn’t replace another from the previous title and works well with the space setting.

BL2 is a masterpiece, but there are no laser weapons in that game.

Cryo Damage 

This is another interesting idea that was executed very well. The Cryo element from The Pre-Sequel replaces slag in Borderlands 2. This changes the entire formula for TPS’s gameplay. In Ultimate Vault Hunter mode from BL2, slagged enemies take triple damage. So it is better to always have the purple effect applied to enemies while fighting them. This makes builds somewhat restrictive granted the player should always prioritize using skills and weapons that will apply this debuff. The removal of slag makes for a much better game that can operate with more variation. Cryo is cool but is in no way something mandatory for success in the late game like slag in BL2. With that being said, cryo is still very strong and fun to use. Watch this gameplay of johnny lalsangzela shredding the higher levels as Nisha using cryo guns.

The implementation of this new elemental type was so well done from this game, that it returned to Borderlands 3 in an even better form. 

Better Classes Than 1, 2, and 3

This game features what may be the best cast of vault hunters in any Borderlands Game. Four base game powerhouses were later joined by two more amazing DLC characters.

The Pre-Sequel Vault Hunters may be a pedestrian-looking bunch, but they are certainly better than most other casts in the Borderlands series.

Athena has great defense and massive damage with her shield and elemental buffs. Nisha’s action skill is aimbot and she can infinitely chain critical hits with her tombstone skill. She can also dual-wield pistols of the same kind. The inability to combine different weapons and the absence of a money shot skill limits her ability to be better than the Gunzerker from BL2. This is fine though, because her balancing and team play with the other characters is better. Wilhelm specializes in elemental damage and laser weapons, he has support and attack drones to heal and fight for him. Then there’s Claptrap, the optimal choice for coop play with fun abilities.  Timothy, A Handsome Jack “Doppelganger” who can spawn digistruct Jack clones to fight alongside himself is playable DLC content. The final character DLC gives players access to Aurelia Hammerlock. A world beater specializing in cryo damage.

Each character has the capability to defeat bosses and feels overpowered in their own respect. This is not the same as Borderlands 2’s character balancing where the Gunzerker feels much stronger than everyone else. These characters also have better lore. Athena is an Atlas assassin from BL1’s General Knoxx DLC, Willhem is from BL2’s main story, and so is Nisha. Claptrap is a staple of the franchise, a playable Handsome Jack is awesome and Aurelia is Sir Hammerlock’s sister. 

The Claptastic Voyage

The greatest shame relating to The Pre-Sequel is the fact that this game never got to be completed through DLC. The lack of engagement led to Gearbox ending this game’s DLC lifecycle early. BL: TPS got the axe after one expansion, 2 character packs, and a Slaughter Dome Headhunter DLC. However, the one fully-fledged DLC is better than The Torgue and Hammerlock Campaigns from Borderlands 2. This DLC perfectly adapts BL2’s style of storytelling and artwork to The Pre Sequel. It is one of the high points of the entire series, but too little too late in the way that people still do not care that this game is not complete. 

This is a highpoint of the Borderlands series overall.

This DLC gives the players access to the “glitch” weapon class which comes with many unhinged and cool effects. The guns themselves will visually bug out of the player’s hands or randomly lose texture on purpose. When firing them they have a chance to proc some crazy effects. Admiral Bahroo released another guide on this class of guns within the game.

Better Ways to Get Legendaries: The Grinder

This loot mechanic’s introduction to the game made sourcing legendaries consistently no challenge. So long as the player has lots of legendary weapons to grind, farming is not necessary. The grinder is like opening packs in sports games. This guide by BroCo Gaming explains how to use this contraption located within Concordia.

The grinder is awesome and a great addition to this game. It is exclusive to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and another reason why this game is worth revisiting.

Moonstones Better Than Eridium

This is the black market currency that replaces Eridium from Borderlands 2. These are more abundant than Eridium and can purchase additional things like buffs from Moxxxi’s bar and special moonstone chests.

Non-unique guns can come in special luneshine variants with additional stat modifiers. These chests cost 40 moonstones to open and guarantee purple/ orange rarity items with luneshine buffs. The grinder can also use moonstones along with the three weapons used in the recipe to guarantee the new weapon has luneshine effects as well. Moonstones being so bountiful on Elpis makes it so that ammo storage deck units are more affordable and the player never goes without quality weapons. 

Legendary weapons in The Pre-Sequel are made better by luneshine modifiers. Nothing like this feature is present in BL2.

Australian Accents

2K Australia handled the development of this title and as a result, many side and main characters are Aussie. The gruff dialect of our friends from the Oceania continent rubs lots of American gamers the wrong way. Personally, I find it very charming. Funny lines are even funnier when spoken by NPCs with salty Australian accents. The town NPC banter in Concordia is very funny and better than the sad mopey lines from Sanctuary residents in BL2.

(Via MikeO path on YouTube)

Concordia

It’s not better than Sanctuary, but it’s still a great home base. There is a safe, place to transfer weapons to other characters, Moxxxi’s bar, the grinder, a better Golden key system that’s easier to use, and it is a cool-looking city. There is also a reference to Gaige from Borderlands 2 outside of the Meriff’s office. Moxxxi’s bar also features a spoof of daft punk. When you first meet Lillith, she will be dancing in the bar in front of the DJ booth. This is a neat visual and makes the city feel like one big party. Concordia is an imaginative moonbase that is true to Bordrlands’ art style in its design, and a splendid central hub for this game. Soak in the ambiance of Concordia while AFGuidesHD on YouTube walks around the city to complete a set of challenges.

The Empyrean Sentinel

The community was rightfully upset by a decision made for this game to possess some bosses that could not be fought more than once in a single playthrough. The grinder is the workaround for still being able to obtain the loot these bosses drop, but it would be better if all bosses were farmable like in BL2. That said, the farmable bosses in The Pre-Sequel are amazing. Red/Belly are the first farmable bosses in the story that hold worthwhile gear, and their fight is fun. This early game boss is before fights like The Bosun, Felicity Rampant, The Empyrean Sentinel, and Iwajira.

(Via hasslinghoff on YouTube)

The Sentinel boss fight is what deserves focus. The several phases of the fight along with the arena and design of the boss itself is nothing I will be shy about calling my favorite boss in the Borderlands Series. The final boss in the game is significantly better than the Warrior or the Destroyer fight. As an added bonus, the player does not have to hear “The lava is rising, get to high ground!” every eight seconds. Tyreen, Troy, and the Vault Monster from BL3 don’t even have a seat at this table of discussion. 

Were We Better Off?

Borderlands is an example of a franchise that had its golden era taken for granted. Borderlands 1 and 2 both receive their flowers for innovating looter shooters. Both of these games are some of the finest examples of this genre. The gameplay loops are addictive, and the looting system makes farming a thrilling experience every time. Borderlands 3 is not a game people speak about nicely for a good reason, the story is bad. The gameplay is fresh and satisfying but having to endure the bad writing through three separate playthroughs is too much for most players to stomach. The release of Borderlands 3 highlights the recession of the brand in the eyes of many within the community. Loyal fans now only reminisce about better days playing Borderlands 1 and 2 seven to ten years ago. 

The remastered Handsome collection keeps BL2 neat-looking with passable graphics and better frames. With it comes The Pre-Sequel which will ultimately collect dust in most people’s game libraries. It is like The Pre-Sequel is the neighbor’s kid your mother forces you to hang out with because she is friends with his mom. Only this time, you spend some time with them and realize they are just misunderstood.

Unfortunately, the bad reviews, the memes, and groupthink have successfully affected the way people view how good The Pre-Sequel is and have made them ignore how it’s getting better over time. The community didn’t like The Pre-Sequel due to everyone not being on board with new changes and the fact that the game hadn’t evolved from Borderlands 2 enough. But the evolution of Borderlands 2 in the third game was an even larger miss. The commercial failure of Borderlands 3 as a modern title makes The Pre Sequel the closest thing to a spiritual successor of Borderlands 2 the community has. Fans of the Borderlands series owe themselves the experience of playing The Pre-Sequel with an open mind at least once.